An Open Letter to Her Excellency President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, in response to the Erongo Town Hall
By Josephat Inambao Sinvula MPA, Atlanta University, 1985 | BSc, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1982
To: The Office of the President, State House, Windhoek From: Josephat Inambao Sinvula, Ongwediva
Madam President,
I listened to you live on NBC at the Presidential Town Hall Meeting in Erongo, held at the Multi-Purpose Hall in Mondesa, Swakopmund. I must respond, because what you said is in line with what I have been writing about for 36 years.
You said:
“Over the years we have been talking about the investment bill. It’s now on the table of our parliament. And one of the elements in that investment bill is to protect Namibian business people. Particularly small and medium enterprise. Because it will tell us which [business] should be reserved for Namibians.
We want foreign investors, investors, not foreign kapana. Yes, kapana is for our own people. Not foreign retailers. We want investors.
Not just retail, retail, retail, retail. This should be done by local people… there should be no way of destroying another business, just bringing another business, the same business. That does not work. No way in the world.
That’s how our entrepreneurs, our businesses are not growing. But they can only grow if we are working together.”
Madam President, thank you for saying it clearly, publicly and bravely.
For 36 years I have written this audit, Politically Free, Economically Captive, which is evidence-based, fact-checked and scholarly. My message has been consistent: Define Investment. Spell Out the Benefit. Monitor Performance. Protect the Nation.
You have now said it in the language every Namibian understands: We want investors, not foreign kapana.
1. You Are Right About the Investment Bill
The Investment Bill is now before Parliament. Good. But a Bill on the table is not yet a law in the factory, the shop or the market.
I respectfully ask that the Bill do what you promised: protect Namibian business people, particularly small and medium enterprises. Let it state, in law, which businesses are reserved for Namibians.
Kapana is for our own people. Retail is for our own people. Small trade is for our own people. That is not xenophobia. That is economic patriotism, and it is what every country does for its own citizens.
2. You Are Right About Duplication
You said: “There should be no way of destroying another business, just bringing another business, the same business. That does not work.”
Madam President, that is exactly what Namibian manufacturers have been telling me.
Mr Robby Amadhila, Proprietor of ROAMA Manufacturing (Pty) Ltd in Ondangwa, told me: “In most cases we have duplicating Foreign Investments that are allowed in the same space with locals basically adding no particular economic value to National Development.”
Mr Sebil Dhewa, Proprietor of FirmStart, MF Medical and NamKit Medical in Windhoek, asked: “WHO owns the ‘source’? Obviously none from the previously disadvantaged Namibians.”
When a foreign investor arrives to do exactly what ROAMA or FirmStart is already doing, he adds no value. He only duplicates, divides the small market and kills the local business.
You have named it, Madam President: duplication does not work. No way in the world.
3. You Are Right About Real Investors
We want investors. Namibia needs capital, technology and markets.
But a real investor builds what Namibia does not yet have. A real investor brings technology we lack, creates jobs we lack and adds value inside Namibia.
A real investor does not come to sell kapana. A real investor does not open another retail shop next to a Namibian retail shop. A real investor does not arrive with a briefcase to secure land and tax holidays, and then export the profit.
That is not investment. That is, as you said, destroying another business.
4. Let Us Work Together
You said: “[Our entrepreneurs, our businesses] can only grow if we are working together.”
Madam President, I agree, and I am ready to work together. My research papers are not written in opposition. They are written for engagement, from Regional Government to Central Government.
Let us use this Investment Bill to do four things together:
- Define Investment in law, not in speeches.
- Spell Out the Benefit in numbers: jobs, tax, local procurement, skills transfer and value addition inside Namibia.
- Monitor Performance every year, not just once at the signing ceremony.
- Protect the Nation: national security, national priorities and national interests must be safeguarded at all times.
That is how our entrepreneurs will grow. That is how Namibia will become economically free, not just politically free.
Madam President, you have spoken for all of us in Erongo. You have spoken for ROAMA in Ondangwa and FirmStart in Windhoek. You have spoken for every Namibian who believed in 1990 that liberation meant ownership.
I thank you for your leadership, and I stand with you on this.
I voluntarily place my credentials on record for due diligence: BSc, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, 15 May 1982; MPA, Atlanta University, Georgia, 20 May 1985; PhD coursework completed 1988/1989 at Atlanta University, with the oral examination and dissertation pending, after I relocated to Namibia in 1989 for the UN Resolution 435 elections.
My record is impeccable and above board. So is my argument.
Take care and stay blessed.
Josephat Inambao Sinvula Ongwediva | 081 234 6326 | sinvulajoe2@gmail.com
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